I don't own Batman the Animated Series.

First Sightings.

As he finished buckling the utility belt around his waist in the cave - it would take him time, and a lot of persistence in transforming the cave into the base of operations, the headquarters he would need if he wanted to make this work; the plan was he would get started properly with the basics in the next few months, but there was plenty of time for that, but after that, he would see if he would prefer just having a simple base of operations with the computer and garage centre (he did have a boyhood fantasy of rebuilding the lair of the Grey Ghost down here, but that was something he could just work out later) - and he simply held out his hand for the mask.

Silently Alfred approached him and handed over the cowl of his suit without a word. The English butler and faithful old friend who had been a steady and kindhearted rock for so long had never liked his plan to become a vigilante. Deep down Bruce understood where the older man was coming from. Bruce was all Alfred had left, and it was the same with Bruce, but he had to do this.

He could never let another child, 8 or 10, or 11 - it didn't matter - go through what he had when that thug had shot his parents.

Bruce let out a silent sigh as Alfred passed him the cowl, and for a moment he stood in the darkness and stared at the mask. For a moment he asked himself why Andrea had led him along like that. He knew the clues were there - Carl Beaumont's reluctant nervousness when Sal Valestra and his friends came to the office where there was likely a great deal of tension between them all, that clearly heated exchange on the last night he actually saw the woman he loved.

But what happened between that moment when he last saw her when Alfred drove away and when he received that note with the ring box, Bruce didn't know.

A part of him was tempted, when he put on the mask and went out on his motorcycle into the city - he would ensure the building of the Car when he could, but for now, he would just use a motorcycle to get to the city - to go after Valestra and the others and discover what was going on, so then he could just make some semblance of sense about why Andrea and Carl had both gone. He had tried contacting them both many times, but they had left the city, as the note said, and none of his attempts succeeded in the weeks since.

All he knew was he was doomed to be a vigilante.

Bruce forced all of the good moments he and Andrea had before she left out of his mind as he put on the mask. Turning around, he narrowed his eyes in puzzlement when Alfred staggered back in horror at what was looming silently in front of him.

"My god," the Englishman whispered.

For a moment Bruce thought about giving his old friend some comforting words, but he held himself back as he began settling his new persona as a frightening and stoic vigilante. As gracefully as a cat, Bruce slipped away from Alfred and grabbed the crash helmet and he hopped onto the motorcycle and sped away.

X

For the next few months, the crime rate within the city began to drop slowly. Every mugger and criminal in the city was scared stiff. Rumours of a weird bat creature stalking the night had begun circulating around the city, beating the living daylights out of every criminal it encountered. At first, the rumours were met with scorn, but as the weeks passed and more and more criminals reaching higher up the ladder into the echelons of the mob began to be found with broken and dislocated jaws, broken bones and more serious injuries.

Photographs of corrupt judges, DAs and cops began to surface, showing off many incriminating crimes - bribery, rape, brutal sex games, being on the payroll of criminals - as did their beaten and broken bodies. Many of them babbled away in terror about a bat who just appeared out of nowhere and attacked them.

One night, many of the criminal aristocracies were attacked when the 'Batman' suddenly knocked out the lights to one of their dinners, terrifying them all and he issued a threatening warning, that things in the city would never be the same.